Environmental groups unite to fight Crystal Cove resort

Critics of a proposed development agree to set aside differences.

CRYSTAL COVE -- Environmentalists who have been united in their opposition to
a $35 million luxury resort in Crystal Cove State Park but fractured in their methods
of fighting it agreed Tuesday to a unified front.

Laura Davick, founder of Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove and a resident of one of
46 historic cottages slated to be rehabilitated for the resort, will drop her push for an
arts and environmental center on the site.

"We believe that no alternative to this project can be brought forward until the
contract is terminated and the public process is begun,'' said Davick, who with
heiress Joan Irvine Smith recently announced they were forming the nonprofit
Crystal Cove Conservancy to fund their proposal.

The consensus was reached after meetings Friday and Tuesday at Irvine Smith's San
Juan Capistrano ranch. Among those in attendance were members of the League for
Coastal Protection, Orange County Coastkeepers, the Sierra Club and the Natural
Resources Defense Council.

The groups disagree on what to do about Crystal Cove, but agree they don't want
the resort.

"I think people are beginning to work together,'' said Jean Watt, president of Friends
of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, Orange County. "That's super.''

The two meetings came on the heels of a contentious Jan. 18 meeting in Corona del
Mar in which State Parks Director Rusty Areias and developer Michael Freed were
shouted down by the 600-member audience as they tried to outline the proposal for
the resort, which includes the renovated cottages, an interpretive center, a pool and a
restaurant.

Areias said Tuesday that he recognizes the resort has intense opposition, but added
that he is hamstrung by a state contract with Freed reached in 1997 during the
administration of then-Gov. Pete Wilson.

"It's a difficult situation,'' Areias said. "I don't want to have to write a check for $1
million for breaking the contract.''

Freed, who is known for environmentally sensitive developments, could not be
reached Tuesday.

Environmentalists and cottage residents have complained about the lack of public
input on the project and the high cost for cottages - as much as $375 a night.

But Areias and Freed have countered that the project cost is high because the
cottages are listed on the National Register for Historic Places and must be
rehabilitated.

Freed had agreed to work with Davick and others to find the money to turn the
development into a more modest retreat and to forgo his profits.

"Freed has been very open-minded about other alternatives, and I would not be
surprised if there was some creative way to open all or part of this process to try to
arrive at some consensus,'' Areias said.

But David Beckman, a senior attorney with the Los Angeles office of the Natural
Resources Defense Council, said the environmental groups are opposed to any
resort.

"This is not the right project in the right place,'' he said. "Sometimes the most
prudent course is simply to recognize that and to move on.''